CHELMSFORD -- It was officially Table 13, but the round, dark wooden table with the five chairs off to the side of the dining room at the Glenview Pub & Grill was really Mary and Walter McInerney's.

No one is sure how it came to be, but at least 25 years ago, the "Macs" -- as everyone in the Princeton Street restaurant knew them -- adopted Table 13 as their own. They'd come in just about every night, usually around 5 p.m., always to the same table.

Mary, a retired nurse from the former St. John's Hospital in Lowell, would get a Southern Comfort Manhattan, and Walter, a longtime Raytheon worker, would have a martini. They'd always sit in the same seats, always facing the rest of the dining room.

Nearly every night for 25 years or more, Mary and Walter McInerney took their seats at Table 13 at Chelmsford's Glenview Restaurant. The couple would sometimes pick up the tab for a young family sitting nearby.
SUN / GRANT WELKER

They were such regulars that not only would the wait staff hold off on seating Table 13, but the Macs would even call ahead of time to say if they were not going to be in that night.

"They always made sure we had the table open," said server Anthony Sharaffa. "But we always kept it open."

The restaurant staff that got to know the Macs over the years is now mourning that they'll never have to set the table aside for the couple again. Mary died in April 2011 at age 86, and Walter, after having been less frequent of a regular since then, died Feb. 3 at age 87.

"They were always meant to be together, and they're together again," said Stephanie Sampsonis, who took over as owner two years ago for her late father, Steven, who owned Glenview for 16 years.

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The McInerneys both grew up in the Pawtucketville neighborhood of Lowell and met through groups of friends who would hang out in the neighborhood, said Walter's sister, Alice Harrington. They both graduated high school in 1942, he from Lowell High School and she from St. Patrick's High School. They were married for almost 63 years.

He served in the Marine Corps in World War II and was awarded a Purple Heart. She served in the Nurse Cadet Corps at Camp Edwards on Cape Cod during the war.

Mary and Walter McInerney, who lived two streets away, made the Glenview Restaurant, at 248 Princeton St. in Chelmsford, their home. Mary died in April 2011 at age 86. Walter died Feb. 3 at 87.
SUN / GRANT WELKER

Both were active at St. John the Evangelist Church in North Chelmsford. They both enjoyed playing tennis and spending winters in Florida.

Mary Webster, one of the McInerneys' two daughters, said her parents always appreciated the way they were treated at Glenview, and were close with each generation of the restaurant's owners. "They felt like they were part of the family. They just had a great love for the Glenview," she said.

The Glenview is considering ways to honor the Macs, such as having a plaque on their seats or the table.

"They were like our grandparents, to all of us," restaurant manager Sheila Vaughan said.

The Macs, who lived two streets away on Beech Street, would ask Glenview staff about their families and exchange gifts for Christmas. The couple would even sometimes pick up the tab for a young family sitting nearby, or, in one case, a large party celebrating a return from serving overseas in Iraq. They'd also occasionally leave in envelopes tips for the bartenders who made their drinks but otherwise weren't tipped like the servers who waited tables.

Their food orders would change, but never their choice of drinks, so any time Vaughan was bartender, she would have the drinks ready to go for when the Macs came in. The food order slips, as they went into the kitchen, didn't need to note "Table 13." It just said "the Macs."

"They were a staple here," Vaughan said.

"They really were the nicest couple," said Sampsonis, whose father was close friends with Mary and Walter. "They'll really be missed."

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